Schizo 2: Arato Kazuyoshi
by M2
Summary: Loren faces his first portal stone challenger. Not a problem. But what if the others are? Loren and Mewtwo decide to find another portal stone bearer to help. NOTE TO ALL YOU MORONS OUT THERE: FANFICTION! NOT AN ORIGINAL WORK!
1. Guiderius

Note to all the morons who read the first chapter and then report as original fanfiction because they don't recognise the borrowed characters. This is fanfiction. It is here for a reason. It should not be at fictionpress. This fic contains characters of a copyrighted nature, the use of which I would be sued for if posted at fictionpress. And next time leave your e-mail so I don't have to put everyone else through this.

Disclaimer: Loren, Mason, Jou-san, John, Kazuyoshi and Guiderius all belong to ME! Stealeth from me and suffereth like nevereth before! Tom and Elin are real people who own themselves. Mewtwo etc, who belong to other people, belong to the people to whom they belong. Not me. If you wish to borrow any of mine characters, ask.

(AUTHOR'S EXCEPTIONALLY INPORTANT NOTE: At this time, you might notice strange things happening with Tom. Since the last chapter of Schizophrenia, my friend Tom's, a.k.a The Authorized, fic has been taken into account. So if you want to know exactly what's up, you'll have to read his fic, Authorization. You can find it at http/ . If you can't be bothered to read it, just bear with the weirdnesses. It can get confusing. But don't say I didn't warn you.)

(Author's note again:) Due to problems with the uploading system, **this** means Mewtwo'sthoughts, sharedwith Loren; _this_ means Loren's thoughts, shared with Mewtwo; -this- means Mewtwo's telepathy, due to malfunctioning of squiggly-lines.

Schizo 2: Arato Kazuyoshiä

Chapter 1: Guiderius

* * *

I stepped to the side and grabbed the katana-wielding hands of my assailant and executed a certain circular motion, sending him executing a fall-breaking roll on the ground. I pulled my bo (staff) out of a side portal and blocked the attack of the sai from my second assailant. I quickly whipped it into such a position that one end was facing the sai assailant and the other was facing the now erect katana assailant. They both attacked at the same time. I blocked both at the same time. The katana from above and the sai at waist height. They both executed a chain of attacks and I executed a chain of blocks. After about seven or eight blocks at various heights and directions I thrust my bo at the sai assailant, sending her recoiling back for a second. I used this time to execute a circular motion at foot height, attempting to swipe the katana man off his feet. He saw this coming, and jumped up a bit, simultaneously executing a downward slice, which I blocked with the middle part of my bo after terminating the circular motion above my head. I moved forward with the bo still in place, under the katana assailant's arms and out of his reach. Turning around, I slightly adjusted the height of my bo to block the stabbing motion of the sai. With one hand, I grabbed the hands of the katana wielder and sent him onto his back. I set my knee on his throat, pinning him to the ground while I drove forward my bo, stopping it at the other assailant's throat. 

A pause.

"Let's stop it there."

I got up, helping Tom up off the ground, and took off my blindfold. Yes. Blindfold.

"That's amazing!" Elin said as she put her two sai on their respectful places on our dojo wall. "You beat us both blindfolded!"

"Yeah, it's a trick we've been working on, eh?"

-Yes-

"Trick?" Elin looked interested.

"Yeah. Basically I use my telepathy in combat. I open up my mind to all those around me and read their thoughts, seeing their attacks and motions with their own mind's eye."

Elin was speechless. "Wow."

"Yeah. You might want to try it too at some point." I said to Tom. "Although you'll need to practice a lot. I did this after weeks of training. And of course I had a mentor." I mentally smiled at Mewtwo.

"Well you can help me." Tom said with a smirk.

"If I can be bothered."

"I will, however, need some kind of melee weapon. Bigger than my knives..."

I paused. It was a long pause. "I told you that when I asked you what you wanted as weapons." I said exceedingly calmly.

"Yeah, I know."

"And you said that you're fine with the baseball bat."

"I was until now."

"Oy vey." I sighed. "What do you want?"

"You're the weapons expert. You tell me."

"Geargh. I'll have to think about it."

"Do."

"Anyway" Elin interrupted. I turned to look. She was holding a plate of wood at head height. I smirked.

* * *

"Okay, put it this way. I'd like something big, but small. So bigger than these knives of mine, but small enough to be used in closed quarters and preferably so that I can use my guns in addition. Of course, I want to be able to gut bad guys with it, or at least plausibly threaten to do so. Gotta have defensive capability as well. Don't wanna have some guy smashing his way to..." 

Tom continued to ramble on about the weapon that he wanted, but I wasn't listening. I was conversing with Mewtwo. Silently. After a few more minutes of rambling, though, Tom noticed that I didn't seem to be paying attention. "Hey?"

"Howsabout I get you a zanbato?"

"Errr... That's not very compact... And I'd have to go to gym a lot more before I could use one of those..."

"Just forget about it for now. I'll think of something later. Right now, I just wanna get home, drink a shot of espresso, and watch a good movie."

"Sen to Chihiro no... What was the word? Kame..."

"Kamikakushi. Yes, that or The Rock."

"I'll drink to that." Tom said as we came up to my house.

Just as I came up to the door, I felt something strange. -Someone has been here.- Mewtwo said, having felt the same thing as me.

"Let's go check it out. I teleported inside, shortly followed by Tom. "Mewtwo?" Mewtwo telepathically scanned the area, giving an answer shortly after. -There are no minds inside the building.- I relaxed a bit, but kept alert anyway.

I looked around, but didn't find anything missing. I checked the whole house, but found nothing out of the ordinary, except for one thing, not gone, but extra. A rolled up bit of parchment was on the lounge-room table, sealed with a bit of red wax, with a strange looking 'G' embedded into it.

"What's this?" I looked at it and picked it up. I turned it over to see writing on it. There was one word, written in ink, looking weird.

"What's it say?" Tom looked over my shoulder.

I looked up from the rolled up parchment, looking baffled. "Challenge."

* * *

"Now the questions are as follow. How did this someone get in, why ancient parchment, what does the 'G' stand for, why the note of challenge; Why didn't they just kill you from behind, why is the challenge supposed to happen at the crack of dawn, and why, OH WHY DID THEY USE SUCH HIEROGLYPHIC HANDWRITING ON THE PARCHMENT?" 

"Read it to me one more."

"'O ye younge Loren. I challengeth thou to a fight at dawn on the morrow. Prepare to meete thine greatest adversary. Like the day constantly battles the night, I shall fight thou and slay thou...' Bla bla slay bla cometh bla greatest bla bla sword bla clash bla 'meeteth me at dawn by the river where the eyes of the oblivious spy not and the ears of the unwise listen not to our battle. Yours sincerely with the deepest respect etc. Signed-' And then there's something no-one could read without having taken courses on Egyptian hieroglyphics."

I got up and paced around the lounge room of my house. This is definitely new to me. "Mewtwo?"

-My hypothesis is that this in one of the challengers that the sage, Jou-san spoke of.-

"Of course! That's gotta be it! He's come for that portal stone. Well, I suppose I ought to show up. I'm guessing he won't leave me alone until I do, so..."

"Yeah, but have you considered the possibility that he might better you?"

"Do you really think that this guy is any kind of match for Mewtwo's powers?"

"Well..."

"Didn't think so." I finished. "That's it. I'm going, but if I am, I'm gonna need to sleep before then... Tom!"

"Mähh?"

"You still remember that pressure point technique that I taught you?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Would you please?"

"Yeargh."

"Thanks." I lay down on my bed, while Tom poked a certain pressure point with the tip of his finger, and I instantly fell asleep. (A.N. Nothing perverted involved! Get you minds out of the gutter.)

* * *

I stood, bored, waiting at the riverbank of the designated river, waiting for my 'greatest adversary' to appear. I wondered when and how he would be appearing. A very dramatic POOF! followed by smoke and a very amateurish evil laugh? Or maybe a surprise attack, meant to miss, instantly creating a battle readiness between us? I didn't know what to expect. I just stood there with the sheathed Castor, whip retracted, at my waist, as worn in Japan. 

I was suddenly wakened from my thoughts as I heard something sounding like metal clinking on metal somewhat far behind me, combined with a horse's galloping. I turned to look, hand on Castor's hilt, ready to draw it from its sheath. But there was no need. What I saw was a horse galloping my way, with a large, metallic figure on top, making a helluva-lot of metallic clanking.

Finally the horse reached where I was and slowed down. I saw that the figure on top was, in fact, someone wearing a European knight's armour, plate mail, with a large European sword at his waist. He got off the horse with some difficulty, but managed to keep his dignity. He turned to me and gave a slight bow before tying his horse to a tree. Finally, he turned to me and walked slightly away from the tree. With a deep voice, he started speaking to me. "Loren the portal stone bearer?"

"That's me," I answered.

"I challengeth thou for the portal stone. Let us commence in glorious battle and fight our way to victory. One of us shall fall this day, and let the winner--"

"Hold on, now. You got me up here at the crack of dawn, you challenge me to a fight, and you deafen me with all that clanking and Shakespeare talk. Could you at least take off your helmet and introduce yourself?" I said, irritated.

"Oh, of course, forgiveth me," He said with a humble bow. He stood upright again and took off his helmet, revealing his ENORMOUS moustache and determined -looking face. "I am Guiderius the Great, lord of Guiderion Castle. I am here for the challenge of the portal stone."

"Now that's better. I am Loren, portal stone bearer and lord of my house, which you've already seen. How'd you get in, anyway?"

"I am proficient in the art of lock picking."

"Well to pick the Abloy (AB Lukko OY. Finnish firm. Allegedly unpickable locks) lock on my door, you've got to be more than just proficient." I said with a bow of respect. "How come the formal challenge note. Why didn't you just kill me in my sleep?"

"I haveth my honour. It wouldeth have been shameful to kill thou in thine sleep."

"Ah, I see. Well, enough chit-chat. You came here for a fight, I understand?"

"Yes."

"How do you wanna do this? I prefer not to kill when possible. Christian, I am."

"As am I. We shall fight until forfeit or death."

"Fine by me." I gave him time to put on his helmet, before unsheathing Castor and assuming death glare stance.

He did the same, unsheathing his huge medieval sword and assuming battle stance. He let loose a mighty roar and lunged forward, sword overhead. I simply sidestepped, watching him sail past. He recovered and took a battle stance again. He lowered his sword to his side and lunged forward, swinging his sword horizontally, making sidestepping futile. I held up Castor with one hand, holding the blunt side of the blade against my palm, blocking his blow. Castor was adamantium, so it couldn't break, but Guiderius' sword was enormous, so it sent me tumbling backward in recoil. He turned and swung in the opposite direction, giving me but a split second to act. I ducked under his blow, sending him once again sailing due to lack of target. This bought me time to back away and resume battle stance. He turned to me, assuming a pose where he had his sword diagonally in front of his chest. Grasping the opportunity, I swung forth with Castor, extending the whip once more, resulting in it coiling around Guiderius' sword.

"What ist this?" He said, baffled.

"That's just a whip on the end of my sword. Retracted earlier thanks to the portal stone."

"There ist more to you than meeteth the eye, younge one." He replied.

"You have no idea." I pulled a shuriken out of a pocket and threw it at him. "Bang."

He didn't react fast enough and it hit him in the middle of his chest plate. He looked down at the piece of metal, now on the ground. "It haseth no blade...!" He said as he looked up again.

"I'm not trying to kill you."

"Then what was...?"

"I hit you. You need to be faster."

He seemed enraged and he lunged forward with castor's whip still around his sword. He sliced diagonally, then noticed that he had hit nothing. I was behind him, and have Castor a quick yank. He toppled over as his sword was pulled into the opposite direction to the one he was going in. I retracted the whip and let loose his sword. He grabbed it and lunged at me again. "I'm getting sick of this."

* * *

(3rd person perspective.) 

Guiderius swung his sword madly, and felt it decelerate suddenly. No metallic clang. He must have hit flesh! He looked closer to see Loren standing before him, looking at him, with his hand at shoulder height, palm facing outward. Glowing blue. So was Guiderius' sword. It was merely 5 centimetres from Loren's palm. He tried to push it against Loren, but it didn't move an inch. Loren wasn't even touching the sword, but Guiderius could not, with all his might, move his sword.

"Whatfore ist this?" He asked Loren, looking at his glowing blue sword.

-This...- Loren's lips weren't moving. -...Is me.- Suddenly Loren seemed to grow some 20 cm in height, grow very light purple, almost white fur all over. His head grew two feline ears on top, and his eyes became purple, with pupils like those of a cat. His fingers grew together, leaving three fingers per hand, and a second neck separated from his neck, forming a curved shape between the back of his head and the top of his back. At the end of all this, Guiderius was staring up at a 2 metre feline creature, who in turn was glaring down at him with deep purple eyes, glowing blue. His sword, which was now at the creature's waist height, was still glowing blue. Guiderius let go of the sword and started fumbling backward. The sword was thrown away, behind the creature, beyond Guiderius' reach. "Wh.. Whatfore black magic ist this?"

-No magic. I am Mewtwo. I am Loren, he is me. We are one. We are two minds in one body. I am the most powerful pokémon in the world. I am psychic.-

"Psy... Whatfore? How..."

Mewtwo rose up off his feet and levitated toward Guiderius, who in turn fumbled away on his back. Mewtwo caught up easily and stopped right before him. He raised an arm, and Guiderius rose with it. Guiderius, now floating on thin air, was panic stricken as he saw himself engulfed in a blue glow. Despite his best efforts, he could not move, so he just looked into Mewtwo's eyes and waited.

-You have lost. We could kill you with a single thought.- Guiderius fell to the ground. -Leave. Return when you are ready. We will be waiting.-

* * *

(Loren's POV) 

_What're you doing?_ I silently asked Mewtwo as we watched Guiderius ride away on his steed with great haste.

**He is not worthy of my time.**

_Granted, but why just let him go?_

**He will return if he gathers the courage.** I saw Guiderius fall off his horse.** That is not very likely to happen.**

* * *

Behold Chapter 1 of Schizo 2: Arato Kazuyoshi. Not much plot yet, but there will be in chapter 2. R&R please. 

P.S. No flaming over Ye Olde English. I know it's wrong. You don't need to tell me.


	2. Arato Kazuyoshi

Disclaimer: Bla Bla. Mine is mine, other is not. See chapter 1.

Schizo 2: Arato Kazuyoshi

Chapter 2: Arato Kazuyoshi

* * *

"Ichi, ni" _This guy was the first. _"San, shi" _There will be more. _"Go, roku" _And they might be more difficult to defeat than he was... _"Sichi" _I might need to find someone to help me with this._ "Hachi" _If not physical help, _"Kyuu" _Then at least advice._ "Zyuu." 

I slumped flat on my back from my stretching exercise. I got into a split-position, (Legs wide apart on the ground, in attempt to get them into a 180 degree angle.) and looked at my legs. "Damn. Few more centimetres. Well, shouldn't take too long. Anyway. I've got more important matters to attend to."

I hastily got up and made for the door. Just then, I felt Mewtwo returning from wandering. "Welcome back. Buckle up. We're leaving."

-Where to?-

"I'm gonna find me another of 'em portal stone bearers. There are apparently four stones, so I'm gonna find one and ask for advice on the challengers."

-I see.-

"Now let's just herd up Tom and Elin."

* * *

"Tom around?" 

"Not right now. He's at the gym."

"Okay, thanks."

I walked away from Tom's house where only his sister was home. I dug my cell phone from my pocket and hit the speed dial button for Elin. She picked up on the fourth ring.

"Hello?"

"Hi."

"Hi."

"How goes it?"

"Good."

"Good."

"You?"

"Good."

"Good." After our ritual greeting, I got to the point.

"Time for a dimension hop. How soon will you be ready?"

"Errr... Half an hour?"

"Good. I still gotta pick Tom up from the gym. We'll meet you at the dojo in an hour."

"Kay."

* * *

I walked in the main door of the public gym, exerting a bit of psychic power to keep the clerk, a big, muscled man, off my back and headed in the general direction of the bench presses. There were two, and both were occupied by big men. I looked around and spotted Tom on the leg press. 

I stuck my head over his so that he was seeing me upside down. "What the F are you doing here?" He asked.

"Dimension hop. You got 15 minutes to finish up."

"Pyhh."

I sat down and planned ahead the trip we would be taking, while Tom finished up his exercises and I went to wait outside while he showered and soon he joined me outside. "So what's on your mind?"

"We're gonna find another portal stone bearer. Gonna ask for some advice concerning the challengers. The ones in the future may be more dangerous than Guiderius. More prepared."

"So how're you gonna find one?"

"Just tell the portal stone to take me to one."

"Elin coming?"

"Yeah. We're meeting her at the dojo in about 20 minutes."

"That's enough for a fight."

"Nah, let's conserve our energy for the trip."

"Bleh."

* * *

"Weapons." 

Tom armed himself with his dual pistols and sleeve knives, Elin brought forth her two sai(s) and I armed myself with Castor, whip retracted, worn at my waist.

"I guess we're ready, then. Let's go." I unpocketed the portal stone. "Portal stone. Take me to another portal stone bearer." I said as I cast the portal stone and opened up a portal. We all jumped through, one by one, and the portal closed up in our private dojo.

* * *

"So where's this guy anyway? And who is he? Or is it a she?" 

"I don't know."

"What? You don't know? Well, that's swell. We've only got the entire dimension to search."

I looked around at the large grassy field that we had landed on. So far, we hadn't seen any signs of housing or people. "Not the entire dimension. The portal stone took us near where we want. Now we just need to find it."

"Bit difficult, considering we don't even know what we're looking for, don't you think?"

"Ja pyhh. Mewtwo, you wanna do a mind search?"

-I find three potential subjects.-

"Wanna check 'em out?"

Mewtwo left wandering, and I saw him for a while yet before he disappeared from my sight.

"Well, I suppose we'll just wait here for a bit." I said as I removed Castor from my waist and sat down. Tom and Elin followed suit and Tom whipped out a Gameboy Color and started playing Pokémon while Elin and I started conversing.

However, after a few minutes, I noticed a group of muscled men heading our way. Judging by the clothing, they were Japanese, and not modern either.

"Tom!" I woke Tom from his Gameboy-induced trance. He looked up and then at the men, switching off his Gameboy and pocketing it.

"The men approached us and when they were near, one of them started talking with a very menacing, even growling tone.. Unfortunately, it was indeed Japanese that they were speaking, and I, although knowing more Japanese than Tom or Elin, only knew random words. I couldn't actually speak it.

"Uh, do you speak English?"

Japanese

"Parlez-vous francais?"

Japanese

"Tala ni svenska?"

Irritated Japanese

"Sprechen zie deutsch?"

Annoyed Japanese

"Hablais vosotros español?"

Straight-forward growling Japanese

"Puhutteks te suomee?"

Roaring Japanese

I turned to Tom. "It seems negotiations are out of the question." He nodded in agreement.

I turned again to the men, to see them unsheathing their katanas. "How did I miss those?"

"Too busy talking." Tom pulled out his guns. "Hold it!"

None of the men held it, though. They all charged forth, swords overhead. I parried the first attack and used its force to send him tumbling to the ground. He got up again and suddenly we found ourselves surrounded. there seemed to be a lot more men than had originally turned up.

"Looks like we're gonna have to get rough on th--" I stopped as I saw one of the men in front of me fall over dead, with 10 cm of bamboo dart sticking out of the back of his head.

"NANIII!" one of the men yelled. They turned to see a man, dressed all in black, facing them, holding a bamboo blowgun. One of the men yelled to the other and half of them charged toward the man in black. The rest turned to watch, but still holding their swords in our direction to keep us from trying anything.

The man in black watched the men's' approach seemingly calmly. Suddenly he whipped his hand up and suddenly there were multiple sharp pieces of metal in the air. "Shuriken." I said as I watched the men stop and try to dodge the sharp bringers of bloodshed. One of the men sustained a cut on his shoulder, then slumped to the ground. "Make that poisoned shuriken."

The shuriken passed the rest, and just as they turned to the man in black again, there was a blast and they were engulfed in darkness. "Smoke bomb." I said. There was a moment's commotion before the man in black jumped high, out of the black cloud, and landed in a crouching position in front of us. The smoke cleared and we could all see the result of the commotion. All the men that had been charging at the man in black were now lying in bloody heaps on the ground. I turned to the man in black to see that his face was covered.

The other men staggered backward and turned their swords at the man. He reached behind his back and pulled out his own ninja-to. Otherwise like the men's katanas, except with a black hilt and a straight blade. The men charged at him, and he parried all their strikes effortlessly and sliced them in the wide openings that they left. One which I particularly noted was when he tapped one of the men in the back of his neck. It didn't seem normal. I watched him through to the end of his bloody ballet and when he finally stopped, he swished the blood off his sword with a single stroke and resheathed it at his back.

I looked at the bloody heap he had left behind and then to him again, to see that he was coming over to us. I contemplated whether to prepare for a duel or to try to talk to him, as well. I decided upon just waiting, Castor in hand, and letting him make the first move. He did. He spoke. He spoke Japanese.

"Damn. Uh... Arigato." I said hesitantly.

"Would you prefer English?"

"Indeed I would. At least you CAN speak English... Now then. Thanks, to begin with."

"You are most welcome. Now, what is a trio of English speaking teenagers doing in the middle of the mountains of Japan?"

"We, uh... How to put it... We... Umm..."

"You what?"

"Well I'll just put it straight. We portalled here."

"Portalled..!"

"Didn't think you'd understand. Well, um--"

"No, no, no. I understand perfectly. I just find it difficult to believe. How did you... I mean, did you use magic, or.."

"We used this." I sheathed Castor and pulled out to portal stone.

"How.. Where did you get that?"

"It's mine. I got it from a certain evil doctor who did.. I mean does evilities."

"The blue portal stone... May I ask your name?"

"Loren. Tom and Elin." I gestured to Tom and Elin.

The man pulled down the bit of his clothing that was covering his face and his hood, then the black bandanna that kept his hair under control. It was ponytail length. He had a stern but friendly face, completely shaved, (not counting his aforementioned hair) and he had a strong gaze. He turned to me again. "I am Arato Kazuyoshi." He pulled something out of his pocket, revealing it as a stone, the same shape as my portal stone, but black. "The bearer of the black portal stone."

* * *


	3. Nagano

Disclaimer: I own Loren, Castor, Pollux, Arato Kazuyoshi, Guiderius, Nagano, Tomori, Dr. Mason, the lot. Tom and Elin are real people that own themselves. All other stuff belongs to the people to whom they belong.

Schizo 2: Arato Kazuyoshi

Chapter 3: Nagano

* * *

"So what do you do?" 

"What do you mean?" Arato Kazuyoshi looked confused at my question.

"I mean as a stone bearer. How do you deal with the challengers and such?"

"I should think that is obvious. I am ninja. I am highly proficient in numerous styles of martial arts and in other useful skills."

"What do you do when you're not ninja?"

"I am always ninja, but if you mean what I do when I am at home, I am a farmer of my own crops. I am self sufficient. I also train my combat skills."

I nodded. We were still on the meadow that we had fought the bandits on, but we had moved away from the bloody corpses and were now sitting down on the grass, discussing things.

"So, Mr. Kazuyoshi, what weapons do you use? Apart from the ones we just saw?" Tom asked him.

"Tom." I addressed him quietly. "He's Japanese. The Japanese say their family names first. Kazuyoshi is his first name."

"Whatever. Mr. Arato, then," Tom corrected himself.

"Please, call me Kaze." Kazuyoshi said with a slight bow.

"Kaze." I said. "Wind. Silent and invisible, yet fast and deadly. Nice choice for a nickname."

"Indeed, I like it very much. Now, to answer your question, I am proficient with what you have seen, the katana, shuriken, the fukiya; or blowgun, smoke bomb, and in addition, I am skilled with kama; or sickle, kusari-kama; or chain-sickle, sai, tonfa, bow and arrow, ono, bo, jo, hanbo, tessen, small darts for use with both the fukiya and in pressure point acupuncture, nunchaku, and two handed combinations of all the fore mentioned, to mention a few. As tools I have shuko and ashiko; or spikes on the soles of my feet and similar, bear-claw like spikes on my palms for traction and climbing, and many more that I cannot mention for lack of time. I also use many custom made weapons of my own."

There was a pause. "I didn't really catch all the names of those weapons, but I got the main idea. Very good."

"But we are running low on time. Night will be here soon. You must come with me to my home."

"Sure, we'll come, but not quite yet. There's still one of us you haven't met. He'll be back soon. In fact, here he is." I said as I looked toward the returning Mewtwo, hovering over the hilltop and coming our way.

Kaze looked there to see the new arrival, only to see no-one. "Where is he?" He looked to me, but I didn't notice. He soon turned to look that way again, still searching for someone. He felt a hand on his shoulder. He detected no evil chi from behind him, so he restrained himself from breaking that hand. He turned to see Elin. "You can't see him. We can't, either. Only Loren can. He'll show you soon."

"Welcome back. Sorry to disappoint you, but he came here while you were gone. Hope you didn't meet any trouble."

-How could I, I am a spirit.-

Mewtwo re-entered our body and I felt the feeling of security and wholeness returning. Having the capability to do so again, I reached out with my telepathy and detected signs of boredom from Tom, anxiety from Elin, and confusion and anxiety from Kaze.

I turned around to see the signs of just those feelings on their faces. I looked to Kaze. "Right. I'll demonstrate in the easiest possible way." I let Mewtwo take over, and doing so, he transformed our body into that of his, now standing taller than anyone around, even though Kaze had previously been taller than me. The transformation only took about three seconds, and at the end of it, the look on Kaze's face was one of surprise, but not complete bafflement.

-Kaze,- I telepathed from my 'standing back' position; -Meet Mewtwo. Mewtwo, meet Arato Kazuyoshi, nicknamed Kaze.-

Mewtwo seemed to recognize Kaze as being Japanese, for he made a slight bow instead of shaking hands like in the west. Kaze returned the friendly gesture, taking on a slightly less surprised expression. "Pleased to meet you," he said. "I have seen much in my inter-dimensional travels, but this resumes a high post on the incredibility list. Would someone care to explain?"

* * *

Kaze certainly seemed to have travelled a lot, considering he took all the Mewtwo/Schizophrenia info so well. Everyone else had been absolutely flabbergasted. He took it all in and nodded. "Wow," was all I could say. 

"You may stay at my home for as long as you want. Judging by your clothing, your dimension is in the late 20th century, yes?" Kaze asked as we walked through the woods on the way to his house.

"Early 21st, actually, but good judgement." I answered.

"What country, may I ask?"

"Finland. I'm half English, though. I don't suppose you speak Finnish?"

"No. I can speak Japanese, English, and a kind of Elven fluently. I have some knowledge of various languages, but I have never been in contact with anyone from Finland. It is located in Scandinavia, if I am not mistaken?"

"You're not. I think I'm gonna take a nap now, so Mewtwo's taking over. Wake me up when we get there." I turned passive and let Mewtwo take control.

(3rd person perspective)

Kaze watched the teen's body mutate and grow into that of the two meter Pokémon, who then turned to look at him, gave a small bow, then continued in the same direction again.

"You are a Pokémon, are you not?"

-Yes.-

"I believe I may have been to that dimension at some point in my travels. I find it strange that people run around catching other creatures in order to use them in combat to prove themselves stronger than others. The way I see it, the only way to find out who is a better fighter, is in a one-on-one fight."

-As do I. I do not let myself be manipulated by others. I fight my own battles, should I choose to do so. But I have nothing to prove to myself. I know that I am the most powerful Pokémon to exist. Others only have to prove it to themselves.-

"I know what you mean. Now, I can seldom find a challenge in the fighters of my day. I am content with living by myself and perfecting my skills, even if I do not need them. The portal stone keeps my life interesting." Suddenly, Kaze noticed that Mewtwo's walking was incredible smooth, without much vertical motion. He looked down at Mewtwo's legs to see that he was, in fact, not walking at all, but levitating. "What else can you do, in addition to telepathy and levitation?"

Mewtwo paused for a moment, then lifted up his hand, palm upward, and a black ball of psychic power materialized just above it. Without looking away from the path ahead, he tossed it away, and after a few second's silence, there was a tremendous explosion. Nothing hit them, though, for a blue bubble of power had appeared around Mewtwo, Kaze, Tom and Elin, protecting them from harm. Once the smoke cleared, Kaze saw a crater, 40 metres in diameter, around their current location.

Mewtwo then turned to a tree, pointing his arm toward it. He lifted his arm, and with it, the tree was ripped, roots and all, from the ground. A blue aura appeared around Mewtwo, looking like blue fire. The aura pulsed, then shot forward to the tree. It totally incinerated the tree in a matter of seconds.

Mewtwo turned to Kaze, who had his hands tucked into the sleeves of the opposite hand, nodding his head. -To demonstrate only a few. My abilities are, however, mostly destructive, for I was created to be a machine of destruction. My creative powers are neither as numerous nor as ample.- He turned again, and WALKED along on the path, that seemed to reconstruct itself before him. Before anyone knew it, all the damage that had happened had vanished, and the forest was as it had been. He turned to the others again. -But still existent.- And with that, he turned to the path again.

* * *

(1st person perspective) 

Darkness. Silence. Peace. Warmth. I was sleeping. Oh, no, I noticed. No! I'm waking up! No! Go back to sleep! I can't.

As I felt myself being forcibly pulled back into consciousness, I noticed also that I was missing a pillow. Pulling my blanket around myself once more, I searched for my pillow, reaching out 'above' my head. No luck, no pillow. Probably fell off again. I then noticed that the edges of my bed were missing. In fact, my whole bed seemed to be a lot larger than it should be... And what's that smell?

I opened an eye, seeing that I seemed to be sleeping on the floor. Well, a floor. It certainly wasn't mine. I opened the other eye, too and lifted my head up a bit. I was sleeping on a weird looking mattress, on a floor I didn't know, in a room I didn't remember having ever been in before. I opened my eyes completely and had a look around. There were two more mattresses with thick blankets covering all but the heads of who seemed to be Tom and Elin. The room itself seemed very large, with a wooden floor, white paper walls supported by wooden frames.

"Japanese..." I said as I recognized the place as an old Japanese house. I looked over and saw that my pillow, which seemed cylinder-shaped, had rolled out of my reach and beyond my early morning energy. I strained to remember what had happened the previous day. I remembered coming to a new dimension, bad guys, a ninja... A ninja! Kaze! Now I remember!

I looked around again and sew that I still didn't remember the place. I guess Mewtwo didn't wake me up after all... Well, I guess I ought to get up...

I suddenly noticed that I didn't feel anything between my skin and the blanket. I looked under and noticed that I was naked. "Hmmmm... I wonder whose idea this was...?" I then remembered that it had been Mewtwo walking in. "Ah, right... Mewtwo doesn't wear clothes. I didn't feel Mewtwo anywhere around, and I didn't see my clothes anywhere, either. "Damn..."

I stood up, wrapping the blanket around my chest, considering it was so wide that it would have been dragging otherwise. I went to what seemed to be the door, and slid it open, cringing at the bright sunlight. After taking a few seconds to get used to it, I looked around, finding myself in an exceedingly beautiful garden, with a small pond, stone slabs for steps, and a few odd trees and bushes here and there. (Think Tendo garden in Ranma 1/2, but bigger.) The whole place was on a hill- or mountainside, overlooking a green valley, with a small creek flowing through the whole yard. Probably where Kaze gets his water.

I looked around and spotted Kaze sitting on a large boulder, seemingly meditating. I walked over as best I could, considering the huge blanket I was wrapped in. Once I got over, he spoke to me before I could say anything. "Ohayō, Loren-san. Did you sleep well?"

"Like a log, arigato." I answered, joining in on the language mixing. "I woke up this morning and didn't know where I was. I guess y'all didn't wake me up when we got here."

"No, we were all going to sleep, so we saw no reason to wake you. Is Mewtwo here?"

"No, he's off somewhere, which brings me to my next point. When I transform into Mewtwo, my clothes are usually teleported elsewhere, and since it seems that we went to sleep in Mewtwo's body, I have nothing to wear."

Kaze laughed at that. "I think I have something that will fit you quite nicely."

* * *

"Oooh, nice!" I looked in the mirror, (which Kaze had portalled there from somewhere), at the set of clothes that Kaze had provided me. Basically, a black gi and hakama. (Japanese swordsman's clothing). "Very nice." I took a few slamming kendo steps, getting the feel of the garment. "I got a request." 

"Ee?"

"Would you spar with me?"

"I don't see any reason against a little morning training."

"But there's just one thing."

"Nani?"

"I might need something a little more appropriate for kicking."

* * *

"Just one restriction. Nothing lethal or permanently disabilitating." 

"Of course. I wouldn't want anyone to die in training."

"Well, then. Here I come."

I ran forth, executing a vertically circular aerial kick, which he sidestepped. I landed sideways, facing him, proceeding to punch him in his open spots. The open spots, however, seemed to close as soon as they opened. He either intercepted or misled all my attacks, including my kicks and elbow attacks. I went for a low swipe kick, he jumped. A high jump kick, he ducked. He backed up a bit, allowing a little space between us.

"C'mon, fight back!"

"Fine."

He kicked, I parried. I kicked, he blocked. I delivered a series of punches, he sidestepped and kicked, I jumped over, bending backwards. I landed on my hands, legs horizontally on top. He went for a low swipe kick; I pounced over it, then punched. He grabbed my wrist and twisted it in an unpleasant fashion, sending me to the ground in a circular motion.

I looked up at him, and he looked down. "Aikido" He said.

"But of course." I pounced up again, and so the battle lasted for some 10 minutes, finally ending in me falling over in exhaustion. "You're good. I could learn a lot from you."

"I have devoted my life to my training. And there has already been plenty of that. For someone your age, you are also very skilled. However, you expend too much energy on your attacks. Conserve your energy and you will be able to outlast your enemy."

"'Zat so?" Suddenly I felt a certain presence, and looking over, surely enough, there was Mewtwo, floating over in his insubstantial form. Suddenly I had an idea.

I turned to Kaze. "Kaze," I said. "Howsabout a rematch?"

* * *

"Come at me." I said calmly, standing in a casual position. 

Kaze looked to be studying me. My eyes, any twitching muscles, my stance. "How?"

"Any way you like." I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

Kaze looked amused. He approached slowly, then took an offensive stance right in front of me, a few meters away. My eyes remained shut. He took an interest in the fact and took a step to the side, using his ninja sneaking skills to avoid making even the slightest sound with his feet. I turned my head as he moved, constantly facing straight at him, despite the fact that my eyes were still closed.

_As I thought,_ Kaze thought to himself. He executed a circular kick around his back, sweeping it millimetres from my face, but I didn't flinch. I felt a bit of air brushing against my face. Kaze looked impressed. He launched into a barrage of attack, including punches, kicks, chops, finger stabs, attempted locks and twists, which I evaded with a certain amount of effort on my part, considering he was a master martial artist. I brought my hands into the game, using them to sidetrack, block and evade all his attacks. We ended up in a tie situation, neither being able to move much.

"Chi?" Kaze asked, looking at my closed eyes.

I opened my eyes, glaring maniacally into his eyes. "ESP." There was a flash of blue, then I was a few meters from Kaze, looking at him with a slight smirk.

Kaze made a smirk of his own. "Very original, but it still needs work."

"That's why I'm here." I gave a slight chuckle.

"Is it just my imagination or are you guys training without me?" came a voice from the door front door of the house. I turned to look at Tom, who had obviously just woken up.

"Ohayō, Tom-san," Kaze said to Tom, bowing. "Did you sleep well?"

"Sure. Those futon things're actually pretty comfy." He said, jerking his thumb in the direction of the house.

"Indeed. Would you care to join us in training?" Kaze asked Tom, motioning with his hands toward the training area.

"Hell, yes."

* * *

After breakfast, we all went to inspect Kaze's array of weapons, which was, to say the least, huge. There were swords, spears, axes, sickles, staffs, bladed staffs, whips, flexible weapons, projectile weapons, small knives, big knives, throwing knives, bows and arrows, and various others which I could either not see or not recognise. There were vials on a shelf, which I went to inspect. I picked one up, and attempted to read the label, realizing to my dismay that it was in Japanese. "Poison?" I asked Kaze. 

"Hai. That one is cyanide, and there are many here that are even more poisonous."

I put the vial back and went to inspect a three-section staff. "Been to China, have you?"

"Hai, I went there to find new and effective skills and weapons, but my skills are mostly Japanese heritage, with a pinch of Chinese weaponry sprinkled on top.

"I see what you mean." I put back the staff as I felt Mewtwo returning from a wandering trip. I turned to greet him, when I noticed the expression on his face was more serious than usual. (And that's saying something ;)) "What's up?" I asked.

-There is a group of humans approaching.-

"I presume they're hostile?"

-I was unable to use my powers, but it would seem that way judging from their behaviour.-

"Lovely." I turned to Kaze and my friends. "We have company. There is apparently a group of people heading this way. Apparently they seem hostile."

"I see..." He seemed to think for a few seconds, before: "Kuso..."

Not really wanting to pry into his thoughts, I asked him what was going on.

"Some...old friends, come for a visit." He headed for the door. He stopped short just before it, picking up a few things from his arsenal. He turned his head slightly, speaking over his left shoulder: "Wait here, and stay out of sight." With that, he left, leaving us alone in his storehouse.

"Hmm... That was weird..." I said, wondering what Kaze was up to.

-We could listen in.- Mewtwo suggested, putting the plan into action before I could say anything. We listened in on the thoughts of the men outside, reading their minds, not their mouths, so we were able to understand despite the fact that they were speaking in Japanese.

I battled the will to say, to Mewtwo,that I was rubbing off on him.

* * *

(3rd person POV) 

"Arato Kazuyoshi"

"Nagano-san. What brings you here?"

"The usual, Arato-san, the usual."

"I told you before, I'm not doing it."

"Ah, what a shame that would be, what with you knowing so much. We wouldn't want you blabbing to the officials or anything, now would we?"

"What you're doing is wrong. You should just give it up. It doesn't pay."

"Oh, but it does. I'm getting mounds of money from this. Now, we're here to offer you your last chance to join us. If you refuse, we'll just have to send our folks to... silence you. Tomori-sama is getting quite irate."

"You know whatever you send here will not come back."

"Oh, but these are special forces. and even if they're not as skilled as you might be, their numbers make up for them. One man, even a ninja, cannot hold off such a force.

"Send what you want, but you have been warned. If you endanger my home, I will show no mercy."

"You have just signed your death warrant, my friend." He turned to leave, then swiftly turned again, executing an unsheathing slash, aimed at Arato's head. To his surprise, it wasn't there. He was nowhere to be seen. He heard two thumps behind him, turning to see his two companions dead on the ground, with Arato nowhere to be seen. He felt someone grab him from behind, holding his arm in a lock behind his back. Feeling a cold piece of metal pressed against his neck, right on top of his artery, he decided not to press his luck by trying to escape, he simply cringed as Arato twisted his arm into an even more uncomfortable position.

"If this is all you have, send your troops. I shall kill them all before you will have time to count them." He spoke slowly, emphasizing every word. "Tell Tomori-sama that I will not join you, no matter what you send." He pulled the blade away from his neck and gave him a kick in the back, sending him sprawling to the ground.

He turned to Arato once more, looking enraged. "Then you will die." He said calmly, turned around and walked away.

* * *

(1st person POV) 

We stopped relaying the happenings to Tom and Elin when we noticed the other man walking away. I peeked out of the door of the weapons shed, seeing Kaze still at the site of the events. We approached him, noticing that he was saying a silent prayer to the two dead men, closing their eyes.

"We must bury these men."

* * *

We looked at the newly made graves of the two men. Kaze had an area where he buried the enemies he killed hear his house, where there were tens of graves already. He was saying a prayer, which I presumed to be a Buddhist one, but I couldn't be sure, because I never asked him about his religion. I said my own Christian prayer, and when I finished, I turned to Kaze. 

"Who was that?" I asked as he turned to walk from the graveyard toward his house.

"Someone I worked for when I was younger. I was a ninja for hire, doing assassinations, spying missions, you name it. However, even I have moral limits. Their crimes are too many and too vicious to list. I quit after I learned about their deeds. I know about them. They know I know about them. They won't let it go, even after so many years. They want me to join them, because they want my skills in their gang. I will not join then, so they threaten me. They will attack here with the intention of killing me." He went silent for a few moments. "You should probably return home. It will be very dangerous here, and this does not concern you."

"No way."

Kaze looked at me, puzzled.

"We're gonna help you. Firstly, you demonstrated that they're not much of a challenge, and secondly, we've all been pretty bored recently, so we could use the fun."

"You... would help me in this battle?"

"Sure."

"Arigato."

"Oh, it's no big deal."

"It is for me. Believe it or not, but most people show very little kindness toward ninja. We're the kind of folks that don't get much attention. We just get hired, get paid, then disappear."

"I see what you mean. How long will it take for them to arrive here?"

"A few days, depending on whether they have already immobilised."

"Well, we'll go on a scouting mission tomorrow."

"Yes. And we will have to train a lot."

"That we will."

* * *

Sa! Chapter 3 of Schizo part 2! Sorry it took so long. 

Like? No? Lemme know!


	4. Ojīsan

Disclaimer: Original characters, concepts, items and... things are mine and may be borrowed with permission. All copyrighted stuff is copyrighted by the copyrighters of the copyrighted stuff. Read the fic.

AN. Some might rate this chapter R, due to graphic gore. If you're fine with such, read on.

Schizo 2: Arato Kazuyoshi

Chapter 4: Ojī-san

* * *

(3rd person POV) 

Fsst

"Mission objective, search and destroy. One subject, possible others. Kill on sight."

"Roger that. Sending in scout."

The miniature flying device hovered across the grassy garden, heading to the house, only barely visible in the midnight darkness. The saucer-like hovering device cut through the paper wall with its rotating propellers, stopping to look around before heading down the hall. It took a left turn and cut through another wall, hovering to the middle of the room, stopping in the middle and panning around the room, finding it empty. It turned to leave, but there was metallic cling, a flash of steel, and the device fell to the floor in two pieces.

"What was that?"

"I don't know, but it seems we may be in for some resistance. Proceed with caution."

"Roger that. Moving in."

The group advanced on the house, stopping to cover each other and moving again when covered. One moved to the door, nodded to the others, then pulled it open and another one proceeded inward, followed by others. They proceeded down the hallway, hugging the walls. As they searched the area, they spread out, no longer watching each other.

One stood stationed, guarding the exit. As he watched for enemies, he failed to notice the hands lowering from the ceiling, which grabbed his head and twisted. With a sickening crunch, his neck broke and he fell to the flood, dead.

Another stood in the hallway, suddenly receiving a dart in his neck, severing his spinal cord, killing him instantly.

A blade stabbed into the neck and down the spine of another unfortunate intruder.

The remaining four men, seeing many of their fallen comrades, formed a circle, pointing in all directions. None of them was prepared for the man who swept down from the ceiling, making a swift, smooth orbit of the group. They all turned to fire at him, pausing to look in confusion at their rifles, astonished to find the triggers missing.

The man, dressed in black faced the group and let fall four small, curved metallic items from his hand. The group all discarded their rifles, equipping their knives, facing the outnumbered man. They heard someone clearing their throat behind them, and two turned to see two teens, one armed with dual knives, the other with dual sais. The protagonists all spread out, concentrating on their own battles.

The dual knifed teen waited for the other man to attack. When he did, with a wide swipe, he jumped backward, evading the swipe, then threw one of his knives into the man's shoulder, and as the man reared up and attempted to pull out the knife, he lunged forward and drove his knife into the man's throat. Grabbing his other knife with his free hand, he let the dead man fall to the ground, turning to face the others.

The man looked at his opponent, noticing that it was a teenaged girl. Remembering his mission, he brushed aside this fact, facing her again as an enemy. He made for a stab in her mid-body, but his thrust was sent off course by a flick of her wrist. She made a stab at his arm, missing intentionally, catching his arm in the side prong of her sai, twisting his arm behind his back and forcing him against the wall. She held him there, when and arm reached over her shoulder, stabbing a knife into his neck. He slumped to the ground, dead. The girl looked back to see the other teen. The two turned to look at the third fight.

The two men split up and surrounded their opponent. He was unfazed, reached over his shoulders with both hands, and pulled out two straight swords with black hilts and single blades. The two men hesitated. One backed off, pulling out a pistol, aimed for the outnumbered man's head. He pulled the trigger, but simultaneously the man ducked, spun around, sliced the man's hand with one hand, making the gun fall out of his mauled hand, and making a mighty upward slice, powered by both his arm muscles and his jump upward. They landed at the same time, one standing, the other not.

He turned to the remaining intruder to see him taking off his helmet, Kevlar vest, and shirt, to reveal a very muscular build. The man took a ready boxing stance, with his fists in front of his face, making a repetitive bouncing movement. The swordsman looked amused, stabbed his swords into the fallen intruder, taking off his gi, revealing a similar, but less gym manufactured muscular build. He took a ninjutsu pose of readiness, indicating that he was ready. The intruder erupted into a volley of punches, putting most of his weight into it. The resident blocked every punch with the palms of his hands. He grabbed the wrist of a punching arm, then grabbed the wrist of the following punching arm, now holding both wrists. He twisted them in a very painful manner, then applied some muscle, breaking both the man's wrists. The intruder now stood, helpless, with his arms hanging at his side. The resident walked up to him, staring straight through his face, with an empty stare that frightened the intruder out of his wits. The resident crouched slightly, thrust his open palm, fingers first, into the man's lower stomach, elbow deep, then pulled it out moments later. The intruder watched in horror at his last sight as all began to blur. What he now saw before him, held in this strange man's hand, was his own heart, still beating.

* * *

(1st person POV)

I watched the fire, listening to the crackling sound as I pondered over the day's events. Kaze had told me there was a sage on the mountain that could unlock another ability for my portal stone. Apparently he had himself visited him and got the upgrade, but he wouldn't tell me what it was. Mewtwo and I had left about midday in search of the cave in which he apparently lives. Kaze refused to tell exactly where the cave was, and that I would have to find it for myself in order to earn the upgrade. We had spent the whole day flying around the mountain, with no luck finding any sort of cave. When night came, we decided to camp down and wait for daylight. Mewtwo had helped to start the fire using his powers, and now we were sitting around, waiting for any indication of fatigue.

I felt my eyes involuntarily turning up to face the sky, and I felt Mewtwo at the controls. I let him take over completely, and he shifted us into his physique. We shifted a bit, adjusting our position to better suit Mewtwo's different figure.

**The sky is beautiful tonight.**

_That it is._

**There are only a few more days to the full moon.**

_Certainly looks like it. I always love walking around at night, with no other light than that of the stars and moon._

**Likewise, except for the walking. I seldom walk.**

_I've noticed. Why is that?_

**It is more efficient to levitate. However, I can use my body very effectively when necessary. Which is not very often.**

_Howsabout a demonstration?_

**What?**

_Show me what you can do with your body, without your powers. It'll help to get us tired._

We sighed. **If I must.**

Mewtwo used his tail to get up, landing softly on his feet, now standing erect at his full height. He turned to the wooded area on his left, taking a few wobbly steps, then bursting into a full sprint. I watched in awe at the sheer speed of the motion. He must have been going at least 50 km/h. I used his eyes to see in the darkness ahead, letting Mewtwo do all the steering, knowing interfering would just lead to disaster. Suddenly I noticed a wide gorge ahead, and I watched in sheer awe as Mewtwo leaped the whole thing, which must have been at least 20 metres wide, without using the slightest bit of psychic power.

I saw a steep cliff ahead, at least ten metres high. As we approached, Mewtwo lengthened his stride, taking a few short leaps, then suddenly stopped, crouched, and let loose all the energy he had worked up with those preparing leaps, and leaped to the top of the 10 metre cliff, landing softly as ever, but this time not continuing in his sprint. Instead, he eyed the trees around us, then approached one, took a few short leaping steps, then span around forcefully. I wondered for a split second what he was doing when both his legs passed the tree, indicating he wasn't kicking. I then remembered his tail, and I focused my attention on it, just as there was a huge crack. As we span around to look at the result, I saw that the whole tree was cracked through. There was a short, splintered stump, and right next to it, the rest of the tree, still standing up. It began to tilt in out direction, but before anything more could happen, Mewtwo reared up, standing on his tail, and kicked with both feet, sending the whole tree plummeting down the cliff that was situated some 5 metres away.

I stared absolutely dumbfounded at the stump of the tree Mewtwo had demolished as we took a few deep breaths, then returned to the normal, erect composure of Mewtwo, standing upright, tall and proud.

_I'm impressed down to my over strong Mewtwo legs. How come you never told me you could do this?_

**You never asked.**

_Well, suffice to say, you definitely are the strongest Pokémon of them all._

**That goes without saying.**

_I know._ I paused for a moment. _Hold on. Is that a cave I see?_

**It would seem like one.**

_Well, we didn't get tired, but we did find the cave. Now, howsabout we expend a bit of pyrokinesis to put out that campfire?_

* * *

In the hills of Japan, in a grand Japanese castle, on the top floor, in the great hall, at the back, on the large throne, sat the criminal lord of the castle, oppressor of various villages and skilful swordsmaster of his own style; Tomori Satoshi.

He sat there, his katana at his side, leaning against his throne as always. He had not used it in a fight for years. He had had little use for it. The only people who could get to him were poor swordsmen who he could defeat with his bare hands. The rest were stopped by his bodyguards far before they could get anywhere near him.

He was leaning over a game of go, playing with no-one, seemingly. He seemed to be pondering his next move as a well armed man came rushing in. He walked briskly up to Tomori, made a small bow, and started to talk, just to be interrupted by Tomori, who lifted up his hand to silence him, not taking his eyes off his go board. He pondered for a few more seconds, then made his move and looked up to face his inferior. "Nan'desu ka, Nagano-kun?"

(The following conversation takes place in Japanese.)

"The Americans have failed. They were all killed. The only one left is the man who monitored the operation with the cameras." Nagano got ready to bear Tomori's wrath, but it didn't come.

"Good, good. At least Arato hasn't lost his touch." Tomori turned to his board again.

Nagano was confused. "I beg your pardon, but wasn't their objective to kill Arato?"

"That's what we told them. In reality, I just sent them there to test Arato and to gather information. What can the remainder tell us about the residence? Has Arato acquired any extra force?"

"It was reported that two teenagers were detected aiding Arato in the battle. Two of the men were killed by them."

"Is that so? Now why would a man like Arato have a couple of teenagers about the house...?" Tomori pondered, staring at his game.

"Maybe he's training them to be his successors? If so, we should really look out for them. They could become as dangerous as he is, some day."

"No, I don't think so. Arato is very proud of his skills, he wouldn't teach them to just any teen. Besides, he isn't that old. No, I think they have something to do with his portal stone. They might be someone he knows from another dimension. They might even have a portal stone of their own."

"That would explain why they were there at night. What should we do about them?"

"Nothing for the moment. We concentrate on Arato. He is our greatest threat. We'll send in the samurai tomorrow morning. Leave the bodyguards here. We might need them. You'll lead the assault tomorrow. Kill, and bring me the portal stone. Now go. You'll need your rest."

"Yes, sir." Nagano turned and walked away, sliding the door closed just as Tomori made another move.

* * *

"Dammit!"

I snarled as I got cut by a sharp rock for the third time in half as many minutes. I looked at the cut, snarling in frustration as I recovered the wound and wiped off the blood. "Very nice little cave, this."

"Indeed."

We spent the next few minutes in silence as we wandered through the narrow passageway. I was beginning to think of turning back, when I noticed the narrow passage coming to an end, opening up into a wide passage, heading uphill. I noticed that the whole passageway was circle shaped. "Weird."

We started to walk through the cave again, climbing up the steep incline. We climbed about 100 metres worth, when suddenly as I took a step, the ground under my foot seemed to sink about an inch into the cave floor. I looked down to see that I was standing on a rectangular stone slab, which had indeed sunk about an inch into the ground. I heard a rumbling sound, and I looked up to see what could only be described as an 'oh SHIT!' situation. Rolling down the cave, in my direction was a spherical boulder big enough to turn a cow into fertilizer. There were no places to duck and let the thing pass, so I did the only thing I could. I turned and ran.

Or tried to anyway. I suddenly felt Mewtwo take over. We turned back to the boulder, now about 20 metres away. I noticed that we had, without my noticing, shifted to Mewtwo's physique. Mewtwo looked at the boulder, which was steadily picking up speed. The boulder now rolled at a furious speed. I almost started to panic, but then Mewtwo lifted up his arm, pointing an open palm at the boulder, his eyes glowing blue. The boulder stopped about 30cm from Mewtwo's hand, glowing blue. I looked up at the boulder, simply amazed that Mewtwo could stop a boulder that size so quickly. I noticed then, that the boulder was blocking the whole passageway, so we couldn't get to the other side.

I was about to say something, when I heard a loud crack. I looked at the boulder again, noticing a crack through the rock, splitting the whole thing in half. The cracks started spreading around the boulder, and soon there wasn't a square decimetre of whole surface area. Mewtwo ceased his concentration and lowered his arm. As soon as he did this, the whole boulder shattered to thousands of small rocks, now cascading down the cave floor to the bottom. By some unseen force, the rocks flowed around our feet, so not one touched us, and soon all the rocks had passed and rolled down to the bottom, leaving the cave silent again.

_Wow._

**That was nothing. You remember I once teleported a whole lake underground.**

_That's true. Well, shall we move on?_

**Yes.**

We climbed the rest of the incline in silence; now very much beware of any dangers about. Eventually we reached the top of the incline, the passage levelling out and continuing as a hallway, about 20 metres, after which it ended in the form of a pair of double-doors. I looked at the hallway ahead, noting the holes all over the walls. We waved a hand through the air ahead, and there was a strange whooshing sound, and I suddenly noticed that we were holding an arrow in our hand.

_You caught that?_

**Yes.**

_Holy Hell! You've got such good reflexes that it's almost ridiculous._

**Whatever you say. Now, have you any ideas for getting across?**

_Why're you asking me? You know at least ten different ways to get across!_

**I cannot be bothered. This is too easy. You have fun.**

I sighed inwardly. _Okay, then._ I took over, but remained in Mewtwo's physique. I applied a bit of levitational force, then extended our aura, in the form of the blue fire that had caused so much trouble on earlier occasions. I hovered forward, and the arrows started flying around the whole room. None touched us. The arrows were burned to ashes before they could get within 30 centimetres of our body, falling to the ground, colouring the whole floor grey. I continued moving forward, the arrows all disintegrating into ashes in microseconds. I finally reached the other end, applying a bit of telekinesis to open the double-doors, waiting until I was outside the room before ceasing the blue flames and closing the door behind us. I landed on the floor and surveyed our surroundings.

We were now in a large square room, which seemed not to have anything in it. There was another pair of double-doors at the other end.

_Now, then, I wonder where the switch to activate the- Oh, there it is._ I stepped on the wire near the floor, causing a clicking sound to my right. Suddenly, the whole room seemed to come alive. Poles sprouted from the floor, blades folded out, and the poles started rotating at great speeds, stopping every half circle. Large circular blades cut out from slits in the walls. Giant half-circle blades swung from the ceiling, swinging back and forth. The whole room was now one big jungle of blades.

_Lovely. Methinks I'll do this with my body._ I shifted out form to mine, depositing all my weapons in portals. I tied up my hair, swung my arms about a bit to stretch them, and studied the challenge ahead. I found a good entry point, and walked up to it. I watched the blades, timing my entry, then, when the time came, I dove in. Using our psychic power, I sensed about me to feel my surroundings as I moved about among the blades. I found myself acting mainly upon instinct and reflexes than anything else. As each blade approached, I moved out of the way, into the way of another, dodging it, moving to a new situation, never getting a moment of peace.

As various blades at various heights and directions came my way, I found myself twisting into positions that I had never discovered before. I found myself standing on my hands on a few occasions. Lunging feet first between two blades, I landed on my knees, leaning back as a blade sliced horizontally right above my face. I moved again continuing the seemingly never-ending journey through the jungle of blades, until I finally found an opening at the other end. Lunging through, I rolled on the floor, landing in a crouching position, before keeling over backward and lying down on my back.

"That... That was... Fun..." I managed to say between gasps for air.

I suddenly heard clapping from ahead. I looked up, over my chest to see an old man standing in the doorway, clapping.

"Bravo! Bravo! That was incredible! I haven't seen something like that since that young ninja came by. Black stone, he had." He said, smiling.

I held up the portal stone. "Blue stone. I hear you could help me with acquiring some new skill." I said, beginning to catch my breath.

"And earned it you have. Here, let me help you up." He walked over and offered me a hand. I took it and he pulled me up. I brushed a bit of dirt off my clothes. "Now, then. Let's see this stone of yours." He held out a hand, and I put the portal stone in it. He did the same little ritual as Jou-san had once done to it, then handed it back to me. "You can now create portals without having to cast the portal stone. You can also create many portals at once, which should come in handy."

I took the portal stone, looking down at it. I looked up again, facing the old man. "Thanks! I'm Loren, by the way."

"My name is Ojī-san. I would ask you two to stay for tea, but you really should get back to Kaze."

I was surprised. "How did you-"

"I'm a sage. I know things. It's my job." He said with a smile.

* * *

Chapter 4 of Schizo 2. Please R&R.

There have been influences to many aspects of this fic, like the obstacle course, and the flying disc thing is basically straight from xXx2. Live with.


	5. Ushi no Hyaku

Disclaimer: Usual stuff. I own mine, they own theirs, bla bla bla. Read.

Schizo 2: Arato Kazuyoshi

Chapter 5: Ushi no Hyaku

A.N. For those who don't know/remember:

Elbow blade A (maybe 50 cm) blade with a perpendicular hilt. Think Talim in Soul Calibur. (Number 2 anyway...)

Shuriken Throwing blades, usually square shaped, with inward curving sides.

M4 Carbine Some sort of machine gun. Featured in Tom's (The Authorized) own fics.

Sai Like a dagger with prongs. Think Rafael (I think) in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Kusari-kama Chain-sickle. It's a sickle with a chain attached to the handle.

* * *

A single cry echoed across the plain, piercing through the silence of the early morning. The synchronized kiai of a hundred warriors who called themselves Ushi no Hyaku followed, causing a few random birds to take to flight in the nearby forest.

"I always thought the synchronized war cry was a lot more menacing than random yelling. Gives a sensation of order among the enemy. Feels like they're more than just a random bunch of armed idiots."

"I agree. That's why it is what it is," Kaze answered to Tom's remark.

"Synchronized or not, do you really think the three of us can take on a hundred warriors?" Elin asked, straightening her gi.

"We can certainly take them on, and their numbers have their own disadvantages. A hundred warriors is a very clumsy force to pit against three individuals. Use your speed and agility and their lack of it to your advantage," Kaze responded.

"Doesn't really apply to me..." Tom murmured, waving his M4 Carbine on the right of his head.

The three of them were standing on the slope of the hill that Kaze's house was on. They were positioned a few hundred metres in front of the house, looking down into the valley, where the opposition of a hundred fully armoured and armed samurai faced them.

Elin, the leftmost of the three, was armed with her trusty katana, plus another one she had borrowed from Kaze for the occasion. Her twin elbow blades were attached to her waist as backup, and inside her black gi, she had an array of Kaze's ninja weapons, including shuriken, smoke bombs and small paper pouches filled with pepper and iron filings.

Tom, in the middle, had his favourite M4 Carbine in his hands, with extra clips on a strap going across his chest. On his back he had a pair of semi-automatic shotguns, and a pair of 9mm handguns on his waist. He was also wearing a gi with ninja supplies, which Kaze had made him wear, despite the fact that Tom doubted he'd need them, considering the distance at which most of his enemies would die.

On the right was Kaze himself, with a spear well over 3 metres long as his primary weapon, presently standing upright in the ground, held in his right hand, with a spearhead roughly 30cm in length. He had two katanas strapped to his back, twin sai at his waist, and a kusari-kama reached to his waist at his lower back. His gi, of course, had all the same equipment as Tom and Elin, plus more.

All three had tied up their hair and had a headband across their forehead to stop sweat from going into their eyes.

There was another round of synchronised kiais and the hundred warriors charged forward, now yelling freely.

"Just bear two things in mind," Kaze said as he tilted his spear so he was holding it with both hands. "Mind who you kill, and don't die."

With that, the trio started walking toward the charging army, calmly readying themselves for the battle that was about to occur.

Elin took long breaths, gathering her thoughts, trying not to think of the battle she was about to get into.

Tom was feeling hyper. Adrenaline ran through his veins and he squeezed the gun in his hands, trying to release some of the excess energy that threatened to cloud his mind.

Kaze felt nothing. He cleansed himself of all feelings, reducing his ki to non-existence as he always did before entering battle. It made him invisible to those reading ki patterns. He held on to his spear loosely, and his eyes went blank, seeing all, focusing on nothing.

A few tens of meters before they met the front line, they stopped and spread our sideways, some 10 metres apart.

Tom cocked his Carbine and started firing at the approaching force. At first he simply swept over every target, but he soon noticed that their armour was stronger than he expected, so he had to start firing at individuals until they dropped to the ground.

Elin, meanwhile, waited for the front line to come right up to her, then leaped backward about a metre, letting the front most attackers make their sweep with their swords, then lunged forward, entering the crowd between two of the attackers, cutting their sides with her swords as she went. She was now in the midst of the crowd which had gathered when the front line had stopped, and the ones behind them had bottlenecked, making them easy targets as she swooped between them, moving too quickly for anyone to react before she was out of their range, slashing away as she went.

Kaze brought his spear down on the front most attacker, cutting him in half, then swiped the spear both left and right, cutting a few enemies across the chest, and stopping the rest from coming much closer. One brave individual charged forth, blocking Kaze's swipe. Kaze swung his spear around and hit the attacker smack-dab in the temple with the other, shorter end of his spear. (He was holding it uncentred.) The man collapsed onto the ground, and before he could do anything, Kaze brought down the blade of his spear, finishing him off. Meanwhile, the rest of the samurai had started to form a circle around him, boxing him in. However, when anyone started to approach, he would lash out at that attacker, finishing him off quickly, then swiping around in circles again so no-one else could approach.

Tom's volley came to a sudden stop as his clip ran out, and the attackers rushed forth again. Tom hastily dug a smoke-bomb from his gi and threw it at his feet, taking a few quick leaps away, giving him time to reload and resume firing before the attackers had time to locate him again.

Elin suddenly found that the enemy had discovered her tactic and the attackers now had her surrounded. She sheathed her katanas and threw a smoke-bomb at the ground. She dug out some pepper/metal filing pouches, and threw them in an arc at the enemies before her, blinding most of them, giving her time to grab her elbow blades and resume her previous course of action, swooping between the enemies, now slashing at the with her elbow blades.

Kaze noticed that none of the samurai around him were attacking him anymore, but just waiting for him to make a mistake or to show signs of fatigue. He smirked, and thrust forward with his spear. Before the spear had time to move much, a black portal opened in front of it, and a samurai behind him uttered a death cry. All turned to see Kaze's spear-head sticking out of his chest, coming out of a portal behind the now slumping man. Kaze proceeded to start swinging again, sometimes at enemies close enough, sometimes through portals, at enemies not close enough.

Tom now noticed both the lack of replacement clips and attackers. He discarded the now useless Carbine, not being able to put it in a storage-portal, because Loren with his portal-stone was nowhere nearby. He grabbed the two shotguns strapped to his back and brought them before him, clicking off the safeties, then proceeded to a new set of enemies.

Elin now found that the enemies were becoming too few and far between that she couldn't effectively hide amongst then anymore. She put away her elbow-blades and unsheathed her katana, threw a few shuriken at the opposition, and charged, now indulging in one-on-one combat with various different enemies, moving on to the next one every time she finished with one.

Kaze noted that the attackers now seemed to have little to no intention on attacking left in them. He looked around, then threw his spear to the ground. He reached behind his back and pulled out the kusari-kama. He held the kama in his left hand and lazily twirled the chain with his right. He lashed out with the chain, the weight at the end shooting forward, hitting an enemy 5 metres away in the face. He reeled it in and lashed out again. This time it twirled around a lone attacker's sword. Kaze gave the chain a yank, but the samurai held on to his sword. Kaze kept the chain tight, so the samurai couldn't move his sword. He started reeling the chain in, stepping forward as he went, constantly keeping the chain tight. He twirled around, bringing the chain around his chest, grabbed it with his right hand, then twirled around again, in the opposite direction, so he had the chain around him double, so it could be easily let go. His left hand, the one with the kama, was always free. He made his way toward the samurai, and when he got close enough, he simply stuck the kama into the samurai's neck artery. He released his chain from the samurai's sword, and worked his way toward Tom and Elin.

Tom and Elin now met in the midst of the chaos. Tom's shotguns had run dry and he had switched to his pistols. Elin drew her other katana and the two split up again, Elin heading for close combat, Tom keeping his distance. Elin indulged in combat with a warrior, reading his moves as he made them. She spotted his mistake and struck, stabbing him in the side, where his armour was light. She turned to see three enemies charging at her, swords in varying positions. She waited until the last moment, then collapsed to the right. The attackers sailed past, but suddenly she felt a ripping pain in her side. She looked at it, seeing a deep gash across her ribs. She stood up, holding a katana in her right hand, holding her side with her left.

Tom fired at anyone who came close, reloading his pistols with clips that were attached to his sides. He turned to see one charging at him, and turned to shoot him. He pulled the triggers, but there was no booming sound. "Shit." He dropped out the old clips and reached down to attach new ones, but he wasn't fast enough. The samurai lunged forward and stabbed Tom in his left shoulder, followed immediately by a stab to his right shoulder. He fell backward just as the samurai made the finishing tough by stabbing his throat. Lucky for him he had fallen, for now he only got a hole in his windpipe, as opposed to a severed spine. He fell to the ground, suddenly receiving another stab, this time in his upper thigh. He felt pain tearing through his whole body, and his vision started to blur. He threw one of his knives at the samurai, hitting him with the hilt. It gave him enough time to reload his guns, so he could turn up again and blast his brains out. The samurai keeled over and Tom hastily rolled out from under him, narrowly avoiding being stabbed again by the dead man's blade.

Tom and Elin met up again, now both wounded and slow.

Kaze soon joined them, now armed with his two katanas. The three formed a circle, a blade or a gun pointing in every direction. The remainder of the samurai, of which there were now only about 20, formed a circle around them. The three eyed the samurai menacingly, each with their own wounds from various attackers. The samurai eyed the three menacingly, each with their doubts, yet bound by their honour.

"Are you all right?" Kaze asked Tom and Elin, glaring at the samurai before him.

"I'm fine," Tom answered.

"Getting a bit tired though," Elin finished.

"We'll soon be done. Just make sure you don't die on the last..." Kaze didn't finish his sentence due to the fact that he saw a figure descending from the sky.

* * *

_Looks like they started the party without us_ I said as we drifted over the battlefield where the three outmanned defendants were now regrouping.

**Yet they seem to have managed well without us.**

_Even so, we'd better help 'em out._

**Indeed. What do you have in mind?**

_That, I leave to you, for a change._

* * *

The large, light purple figure descended to the ground next to the trio, in the middle of the circle of attackers. There was a few seconds pause, before a blue sphere engulfed the four, then expanded, blowing away all the surrounding enemies with one swift stroke.

* * *

High up on the hill, far beyond hearing distance, a figure watched in surprise and disbelief as the 2 metre figure of a feline biped with a long, flexible tail shrank down into a human boy in his late teens, then turned to greet Arato and the other two teens.

Nagano quickly turned tail and ran as fast as he could.

* * *

"Who asked you to interfere!" Tom said loudly. "I had everything under control."

I flinched at the irony of his exclamation. (Quote from Dragonheart)

"Oh, quit complaining." I said, watching him dump his weapons in a portal.

"I'm glad you're back." Kaze said as I turned to him. "These attacks are getting to be more than the three of us can handle."

"No they're not!" Tom protested.

"Yes they are," Elin said as she examined the cut on her side.

I turned to Elin, seeing her wound. I walked up to her and lifted her arm away from the cut. I put my hand over it, using Mewtwo's recovery abilities to heal it to near perfect shape again. "It'll be fine again in a few days." I said, giving her a smile.

I turned to Tom, seeing him bleeding in a few more spots than Elin. "Got into close combat, did you? That's why I prefer Castor to a gun."

Tom used some of his own psychic power to heal himself, straightening himself out as the hole in his throat sealed up. "Shut up."

"Never mind. So," I turned to Kaze, noticing that he hadn't sustained any damage. Well, what would you expect from someone who has spent their whole lives doing this? "what's the plan?"

"For now, we'll just wait. But right now we need to bury these men. We'll all die from diseases otherwise." Kaze looked at the fields, which used to be green, but were now red from the blood fallen men.

* * *

Nagano ripped open the slide-door to Tomori's outdoor bath, where Tomori was sitting in a hot spring, staring blankly across the yard. He was drinking sake from a low-rimmed sake cup, sipping it slowly.

(Again, conversation is in Japanese.)

Nagano stumbled to the spring, bowed and started talking with a wavering voice. "The samurai have been annihilated. Every last one. Arato and the two teenagers killed about 80 per cent of them"

"And the rest?" Tomori asked calmly.

"They... There was... This..."

"There was what." Tomori said slowly.

"A... Creature. It came down from the sky. There was a... an explosion... The remaining samurai were destroyed... Arato, the teens and the creature were unhurt." He took a deep breath: "Then... The creature... It turned into yet another teen. A boy. The boy went up to Arato and the other teens. They were friendly."

"A creature came from the sky, destroyed our troops and turned into a teenager."

"I swear, it-"

"It's just as we were told. It's a shame we can't have these... people working for us." Tomori said, slow and calm as ever.

"What? Didn't we-"

"The samurai were also a test. Of course, had they killed Arato and his happy gang it would have been convenient, but I expected nothing more than this." He took another sip of sake, finishing his cup and refilled it. "Give them a few days. Then send" He paused: "It."

"I...It?" Nagano looked at Tomori with fearful eyes.

"Nagano." Tomori turned to Nagano. Nagano inwardly screamed at the look in Tomori's eyes. "Don't ever make me repeat myself." His glare was so powerful that Nagano felt his sanity's foundations crumbling away. He felt he would go crazy if he didn't get away quickly. Luckily, Tomori turned away, staring into nothingness again. "Now go."

Nagano didn't need to be told twice. He turned, stumbled, clumsily mage his way to the door, got out closed it, leaned against the wall and fought to catch his breath.

* * *

I felt the rain trickling on my head and down my gi, its coolness relaxing my troubled mind and washing away the blood from the fields. The bodies had been buried in a mass grave. A wooden cross made from branches marked the spot where 104 dead samurai lay dead. I had done most of the work, considering I was the one with psychic powers, but Tom had helped with his own. The digging had been done telekinetically, and so had the burying. However, the sight of 104 dead bodies floating through the air had freaked me out somewhat.

Kaze's house was on the side of a hill, overlooking a large plain. I sat watching as the rain came down upon the plain, slightly blurring sight of the further areas. The rain was light; more a shower than anything else. I tilted my head back and let the rain wash away the sweat from my face. I took a deep breath and slowly let it out through my nose, looking back at the plain again. I had always loved it when a fog or rain was so thick you could hardly see through it. It made my world smaller.

Simpler.

* * *

Behold chapter 5. Took me long enough… Hope ya like it! R&R Please! 


	6. Mewtwo

Disclaimer: The usual. Note that this is a disclaimer, disclaiming that which is to be disclaimed, ergo, the following. MEWTWO! This is fan fiction, so don't go falsely reporting it as being original. It bugs me to have my stories deleted for someone else's ignorance.

Schizo 2: Arato Kazuyoshi

Chapter 6: Mewtwo

This chapter is devoted to Mewtwo. I've been ignoring him too much, even though he's always been there for me. Cheers.

* * *

"You're going where?"

"Elsewhere. Kaze says there's a temple in this world, where the monks are aware of spiritual things."

"What kind of things?"

I started to answer Elin's question, but Kaze kicked in there. "They are knowledgeful in the matters of spirits and bodies. They may have some useful skills or knowledge to teach Loren and Mewtwo, considering their spiritual state."

"I know from personal experience that having more than one mind at work in our body's a little awkward," Tom said, "but I did some reconnaissance earlier today, and it looks like the Nagano crew're coming back soon, with something that Nagano himself is terrified of."

"Which, in itself, isn't saying much," Kaze answered, "but I fear this force may be more than the three of us can handle."

"Which is why I will stay here." I said.

"Well, then. Problem solved. Hm? That doesn't sound like you, Loren. You should be putting up more of a-"

"Whereas _I_ will be going." I interrupted.

There was a pause.

"Okay, so one of you's going, and one's staying, but who's who?"

-I will be staying, in case there is an attack. Loren will wander in spirit form to the temple.- Mewtwo answered for me.

"The head monk there can sense spirits nearby. He will be able to help Loren, even if he is in spirit form." Kaze finished.

"And what will this achieve us?" Tom asked, sceptic as ever.

"We don't know, but we hope he will gain something useful that could help him with his challenger problem." Kaze said, getting nods from everyone except Tom.

"Hope?"

"Yes, Tommy-boy, we HOPE we'll achieve something with this. Lighten up." I sighed.

"Blergh."

* * *

So, not long afterward, I set off, searching for the temple that Kaze had mentioned. Kaze only knew the direction and remote region of the temple, which made my task that much harder. It was due north from Kaze's house, and was located in the Kamiushi Mountains. Snow-peaked even at this time of year, apparently.

* * *

Of course there was one thing none of us had taken into account.

* * *

"Get back here, Loren!" Tom yelled out, flailing his arms in the air. Needless to say, there was no response. Tom turned back to look at Mewtwo, who now also seemed a bit distressed.

Of course, true to his character, any emotion was deeply hidden within, so only a widening of Mewtwo's eyes betrayed any emotion out of the ordinary.

No-one had remembered that Mewtwo couldn't talk without his powers.

Both Tom and Elin had now turned to look at Mewtwo, who, in turn, was cursing inwardly. **How could we forget? How could _I_ forget? Damn.** Mewtwo turned to look at the two humans, now staring at him. He paused. **What now? Are they expecting me to say something? Fools! They know I cannot.** After brief consideration, Mewtwo simply turned and walked away.

Tom turned to Elin, with a very odd expression on his face. One that said "We're all going to die."

"I know," Elin answered. "Maybe we can get him to write it down, if he has something to say."

"I get the feeling that, apart from the fact that he probably can't write, considering the shape of his hands, he probably wouldn't want to, anyway. He's probably seen Ranma's dad bouncing around as a panda, holding up signs, looking ridiculous. After all, Loren does read that, so I doubt he could avoid seeing it."

"Don't think I've seen that. Anyway, let's get a bit of training done. Mewtwo'll probably seek down Kaze. Those two seem to gat along."

* * *

True enough, ten minutes later, Mewtwo and Kaze were enveloped in a game of chess, in which Mewtwo seemed to be winning easily. His lack of psychic powers had not affected his intelligence, and his foresight was not entirely psychic. Kaze, on the other hand, having devoted his life to the art of the ninja, hadn't spent much time exercising his logic in the form of games. Despite his excellent skills of battle, he wasn't much good at chess. Not compared to Mewtwo, in any case.

The game ended in Mewtwo's checkmate. Kaze admitted his defeat.

"I have witnessed your psychic power in the past, but I wonder if you might join me in a bit of training, so that I could evaluate your physical strength?"

**My physical strength is like my psychic strength. Though not nearly as powerful, still very substantial. Very well, let us see if you can teach me some strange form of using it.** Mewtwo nodded.

Kaze stood up, gesturing in the direction of his training grounds, situated behind his house. Mewtwo stood up as well, and the two set off for the training grounds.

Earlier on, Kaze had given everyone a full tour of his training grounds. There was a flat grassy area for sparring purposes right behind his house. Here, Tom and Elin were sparring even at the moment. Beyond that, to the right, there was a destruction area, complete with vertical bamboo poles and tatami rolls for cutting, horizontal boards, stone slabs, and ice blocks for breaking, (which he portals in from a stash he has in a cold place), various similar installations for kicking, and a diverse set of other instruments and fixations, including a wide set of targets for different uses.

In addition to all these outdoor systems, he had, in his large indoor dojo, various bags for punching, kicking, stabbing, smacking, and all other manner of words. He also had ropes and chains suspended from the support beams, on which one could practice climbing. Also, in the way of climbing, he had arranged the entire building so that he could practice his climbing, sneaking and other such ninja skills.

Currently, Kaze led Mewtwo to a wooden stand outside, onto which he quickly and fluidly portalled a large block of ice about 20 cm thick and about 2 feet wide.

"I understand that your skills are mainly offensive, so why don't we start with that?" Kaze said, gesturing to the block.

**As a weapon of destruction, they are indeed. You wish for me to break this? **Mewtwo looked at the block, slightly perplexed.

"Break it. All right, watch me, first." Kaze stepped up, raised his hand slowly, paused, then brought it down, uttering a fierce cry of power, cleanly breaking the block in two with his wrist.

Mewtwo looked at the two smaller blocks. He paused, then lifted one up with his left paw. Then, after another pause, brought his right one down, breaking the block into numerous pieces in his hands. The pieces crumbled down to the ground. He turned to Kaze. **Child's play.**

"Want a bit more of a challenge, do we?" Without waiting for an answer, Kaze portalled in three more blocks, piling them atop of one another. He then turned to look at Mewtwo.

**Too easy.** Mewtwo shook his head.

"No?" Kaze portalled in three more, at which Mewtwo point Mewtwo raised all fingers on one paw. Kaze portalled in three more, stacking them atop the pile, resulting in nine blocks of ice, atop one another, reaching up to almost 3 metres. Mewtwo smirked. "You want a table to stand on?" Kaze asked, looking up at the stack.

Mewtwo shook his head, then gestured for Kaze to stand back. **This should be more of a challenge. I will have to concentrate in order to accomplish this.** Kaze stepped backward, giving Mewtwo some space. At this point, the growing stack of blocks had attracted Tom and Elin's attention, and they were now staring in interest, their spar completely forgotten.

Mewtwo took a deep breath.

**Why am I expending my energy on breaking blocks of ice? Is it to entertain a group of humans, even if they are friends of Loren? Ah, Loren. The human with whom I share a body. Though I find him pitiful in many ways, I cannot bring myself to dislike him.**

He kneeled slightly.

**Perhaps it is self preservation that disallows me from causing an internal conflict within our being. But why? Why can I not spurn him and take over? Mason. He did this to us. But I do not share Loren's hate for him.**

He paused there, then leaped upward, reaching to 2 metres above the stack.

**Why?**

He rolled forward, doing a midair somersault, bringing his tail down on the stack as he fell. A huge void went through the stack as every block broke in two, the topmost ones shattering completely, all of them collapsing downward, breaking the bottom ones into smaller pieced as well, making a large pile of ice in the ground as Mewtwo landed on his feet, executing a further back flip away to avoid the falling ice.

**Loren is affecting me.**

Once the crashing, crumbling noise had died down, Mewtwo looked at the pile of ice for a moment, his tail changing position every now and then. He turned to look at Kaze, who had a very amused expression of his face. Kaze started clapping his hands together, shaking his head, smiling widely. Tom and Elin joined in after they had snapped out of their amazement.

Mewtwo simply stood, appreciated by all around him.

* * *

Mewtwo sat, watching the setting sun, which had now coloured the horizon with brilliant, warm colours. Red, orange, pink, purple, and yellow littered the top of the hill that began to cover the view of the sun, slowly diffusing day into night.

**I have changed. The others do not notice, but I do. My mind has become more playful. I do not fully comprehend it, but it is happening.**

He breathed in deeply, held it for a moment, then exhaled slowly.

**Simply the fact that I accepted being stuck with this human for the rest of one of our lives is against my nature when I was created. But then, I have changed. He is not the first human to have influenced me. But I do not enjoy having to share my entire existence with another.**

The horizon was starting to dull, and a few stars has already appeared.

**Or do I? I used to mourn my fate of having to live by moonlight. Now I am accepted as one of this group, and I am never alone. But is this desirable company? I am of the core part of this group, and yet I do not belong. One might say I am the strength of this group, and yet Loren is the leader. Yet he does not lead me, and I do not lead him. Neither of us is superior to the other. Perhaps this is because we are as one. Perhaps because of Loren's nature.**

The sky was almost completely dark now, and all but the dimmest stars were visible. The near full moon shone bright over the valley.

**But what _is_ Loren's nature? He is kind. Sometimes too kind for his own good. He is sociable. Seldom without a friend nearby. Of course now, he is never.**

Moonlight.

**Am I his friend?**

**Is he _my_ friend?**

He heard steps from behind, and suddenly Kaze was sitting next to him, also gazing up at the moon. Kaze didn't say a word, and Mewtwo wouldn't have even if he could have.

* * *

The next day, Elin found Mewtwo training with Kaze again. Kaze seemed to be trying to teach Mewtwo the art of continuity. He said that Mewtwo tended to put all his might into single attacks, and remain vulnerable afterwards, so now he should try to chain attacks together, using less force with each. This was in the inside dojo, where Kaze was pulling on random switches, causing random sandbags to swing at Mewtwo, who was attaching them as they came.

She turned to her left to see Tom practicing to punch through a thick board. To her, it looked rather hopeless, but Tom remained determined to drive his hand through the board, and was currently hardening his fist.

She decided to join everyone else in training, and went to the grassy sparring area, standing in the middle. She slowly lifted her left hand to the top of the sheath of her katana, situated at her waist. She slowly brought her right hand to the hilt of her katana, then unsheathed in one swift stroke. She then proceeded to execute a kata (series of movements) that Loren had taught her as the beginning of her travels with the two boys.

* * *

I was now floating above a large forest which seemed to have no end. After having travelled for 2 days straight, I was rather relieved that I was a spirit, and therefore I was immune to such things as hunger, thirst, cold, and fatigue. My spirit for, however, did not liberate me from the torture of boredom. Flying above even the most interesting of landscapes wouldn't keep me interested for two days straight, and I was now exceedingly bored.

_Oh, why did I volunteer for this? Well, first of all, because Mewtwo usually does this stuff, and second, because I'm better with people, so if this temple monk guy really can hear me, we'll achieve more this way._

It suddenly occurred to me that Mewtwo really did usually do the wandering.

_I guess it's a good thing he finally got the chance to hang around in physical form. Must be frustrating to be insubstantial all the time... Well, actually, I can say it is. Those apples looked good... Anyway. Guess I ought to give him more air time. And more credit. I do rather misuse his powers. That must bug him... I guess I'll give him more influence when I get back._

_He is my friend, after all._

_But am I _his_ friend?_

_

* * *

_

"You're used to blowing away everything with one strike. The way you did the other day. But your physical strength, though great, doesn't have the same range. You can't blow away twenty people with one physical strike. And remember, as I'm sure you do, that people are fragile. You don't need to expend so much strength on individual enemies, when you can, instead, easily defeat lots of people with small, fast attacks. I would remind you that you have an extra limb, compared to people, but you're well aware of that." Kaze drilled Mewtwo as he continued to send random sand bags at him.

**With my powers, I did not need to have such alternatives. However, there may be truth in your speech. Without my powers, I can only attack in a maximum of five directions at a time.** Mewtwo used his fists, claws, feet, and tail to attack each sandbag as it came, now only expending enough energy to stop their movement, as opposed to blowing them off their ropes in bursts of sand.

Kaze suddenly stopped sending targets at Mewtwo, who turned to look at him.

"Let's try something else, now." Kaze walked over to a human shaped dummy near the wall. "This is a dummy with similar characteristics to humans. It has skin that is as elastic and strong as human skin, and it had all the things a human has it him. Blood vessels, muscles, though they aren't really muscles, like the blood isn't really blood. Heart, guts, all the goodies. Even the bones are similarly strong to those of humans. We can practice our special attacks on this."

**Special attacks?** Mewtwo looked at the dummy, then at Kaze. **Why?**

"I'm going to teach you some, because they are extremely efficient in battle. For instance," Kaze brought a dart from his sleeve and stabbed it into the dummy's neck. He twisted, and pulled it out. Torrents of 'blood' poured out, flowing through the wooden grating it was standing on. "Stabbing someone in the neck artery can kill them in seconds. And, with your claws, this should be very easy. And, by the way, I had a friend put a spell on this dummy, so it regenerates." He said as the hole in the dummy's neck started to seal up. "So you can practice as much as you like. Try it."

**Artery...** Mewtwo paused, then spread his fingers wide, his 1/2 inch claws protruding from his the tips. He reached forward, and quickly poked the dummy in the neck, pulling his paw away before the blood flow could start. However, it didn't.

"This is why you need to practice. You just stabbed him in the windpipe. Other than having a new hole to breathe through, he's fine. You need to stab here," Kaze put a finger on his own neck, "where you can feel the pulse. Feel it."

Mewtwo retracted his claws and felt Kaze's neck, feeling around, looking for points where a pulse could be felt, and where not. After he got a feeling for it, he quickly turned and stabbed into the dummy, again bringing his hand back as quickly as he has extended it, and watched the 'blood' flow. **Interesting.**

Kaze watched for a moment, and after about 10 seconds, he turned to Mewtwo. "He's dead now. You killed your enemy, and expended approximately the same amount of energy as it takes to raise your hand to your mouth to cover your yawn."

Mewtwo watched the hole seal up, then looked at Kaze.

**Show me more.**

**

* * *

**

Third day in a row now. I couldn't stand it much longer. These trips may not be physically taxing, but they're murder to one's sanity. I was not flying over some snow-capped mountains, but I couldn't be sure if they were what I was looking for. There were so many places that looked the same.

Then I saw the temple. It was a large, Japanese temple, like you see in movies, but this was real.

Finally.

* * *

Mewtwo lay on his stomach on his futon, resting his head against his crossed arms. His futon being Loren's futon, but then, same thing. He was staring off into the opposing wall, deep in thought.

It was morning, but not time for breakfast yet. It was light outside, but Mewtwo had other things to think about.

**I am receiving more attention that I am accustomed to. More, in fact, than I would prefer. Normally Loren would be the surface person and I would have my peace. Now I am suddenly made the primary socialiser. But then, is this a bad thing? It is pleasurable to have more attention than usual, since I have long been a loner. Is it not better to be included in something than to be excluded? It depends on the nature of that something. It may be preferable to be excluded from unenjoyable activities.**

He breathed softly, smelling the cotton from his futon and the straw in the tatami.

**But these are not unenjoyable activities. It has been long since anyone has taught me as a teacher. Loren and his friends have taught me many things, but not as mentors. Here, I have learned many useful skills, even if they may become obsolete when I regain my powers. But are they accepting me as one of them, or are they simply using me to fill their featureless days?**

Mewtwo didn't believe this.

**No. That is not like them. They are kind. They are unlike Giovanni. Then why do they make me perform feats of power for them? Personal recreation? No. **

Mewtwo sighed.

**All will return to normal when Loren returns.**

It was at this moment that he heard a knock on the shoji to his left. Not being able to answer verbally, he knocked the floor in response.

The shoji slid open and Elin peeked in. "Um, Mewtwo?" She looked at Mewtwo, lying on his futon, looking at her expectantly. "Um, we were wondering if you could help us with something." She smiled cutely.

**We?** Mewtwo sat up. Since he was not human, the teenage girl's smile did not produce any such feelings as would be aroused in a human teenage male, but he didn't see anything against helping out. **It will at least take my mind off these matters for a while. **He nodded. He raised a finger to indicate for Elin to wait.

"Okay, I'll wait outside." Elin said, smiling, and closed the door.

Mewtwo was, again, alone in his dim room, the morning light filtering in through the paper walls. He got on all fours and stretched in a feline manner, his front paws forward, back arched downward. After that, he shook himself off, now feeling more vitalised.

Damned if he'd let anyone see him do that.

* * *

"Tom got the idea of building something. He was bored, so he started thinking about old times. Then he remembered a class trip we took some years ago. He remembered a certain game used to play on that trip. It's a traditional Finnish game, and it's called Kyykkä." (A.N no-one ever try to pronounce that!) Elin explained as she and Mewtwo left the house and went outside, where Tom and Kaze were standing, facing a large pile of logs.

**A game. **Mewtwo looked at the pile of logs. **What does this game entail? And you mentioned building something.** Mewtwo said to himself, too used to his telepathy to have stopped doing so.

Tom and Kaze turned to look at Mewtwo. "Ah, so you decided to come. We were afraid you wouldn't be interested." Kaze said to Mewtwo.

"Well, now that we're all here, let's get down to business. Let's start making the equipment." Tom said, picking up a saw.

"Wait, Tom." Elin stopped him. "Perhaps we should explain the game to Mewtwo, first. Easier to make stuff when you know what it's for."

"Right, okay. Here's the idea. We draw two rectangles on the ground, about three by five metres, longitudinally parallel to each other, about three metres apart. We are divided into two teams. Each team is given a set number of cylindrical wooden blocks, about 10 cm in diameter, and about 15 cm high. Each team sets these blocks inside their rectangle, in any setting they want. Then, once this is done, each team is given a number of mallets. Rather similar to cricket bats, really, except a bit heavier, I think. Then, each team proceeds to throw these mallets, from their own rectangle at the other group's rectangle, in an attempt to knock out the blocks. Of course the target rectangle is vacated for the procession of the throwing. First team to knock out all the opponent's blocks wins." Tom finished.

"Simple." Elin said.

Mewtwo was not so convinced. He looked around at the others, unsure of what to do.

Kaze noticed this, and came to the rescue. "You'll understand better when you see it. For now, we just need to make the things. We'll work on the blocks until Tom's prepared the first mallet, so we can use it as a model. Tom, use your powers to speed it up."

"Yeah, yeah." Tom turned away, heading off to make his mallet.

"In the mean time, Mewtwo and I will start sawing these logs. They're approximately the right thickness, and Elin can remove the bark, cut off what's left of the branches, and perhaps shave off some of the edges." Kaze said to Mewtwo and Elin. Elin nodded. Mewtwo hesitated for a moment, then slowly nodded. "Right. Let's get to work."

* * *

Mewtwo picked up the next log from the pile and held it for a moment as Kaze finished sawing the previous piece, discarding the leftover block, which was too small to be used. Mewtwo then put the log down on the x-shaped log-holder and held it down as Kaze measured the next piece and began to saw.

"Question for you, Kaz'." Tom said without looking up from over at his place, where he was carving off large pieces of wood from a log with one of Kaze's many, many knives. A tanto, in this case. "If, as people are so fond of bloating, a katana can cut through one of these logs, why are we using such tools as these?" He paused for a moment. "Just making conversation, here, by the way."

"I understand. The reason why we're using these tools is that these tools are meant for this purpose. A katana, while it is able to cut through a log given sufficient skill and power, is not meant for such feats. A katana is meant for cutting people, not wood. Besides, it would dull the blade and we'd have to spend the rest of today and tomorrow cleaning and resharpening it."

"Quite. How're things over there, Els?" Tom asked Elin, who was currently carving the edges off one of the blocks from the pile that was forming in a line, together with the log pile and the sawing block.

"Not bad. I was just wondering when Loren'll be back. He's been gone for four days now." She was silent for a moment, then looked up at Mewtwo; "not that we don't enjoy having you around for a change, Mewtwo, we do, but I'm just kinda worried."

Mewtwo waved it off dismissingly. Of course they missed their friend. Loren had been gone for four days, without any trace.

But was _he_ worried?

No.

Just expecting.

"Anyway, when's lunch?"

* * *

I flew up high enough to see over the surrounding mountains, trying to find my bearings. _Finished here. _I looked town at the Temple, where the head priest was waving me off. I looked back up at the mountains. _Now I just need to find my way back..._

* * *

"Quick, you have to make a decision!"

"But.. It's difficult..."

"There's no time for that, just pick one!"

"But what if..."

"What if? It's not like there's a bad alternative."

"True." Tom picked a straw. It was short. Mewtwo's was also short.

"So Tom's with Mewtwo, I'm with Kaze." Elin said, grouping over to Kaze, while Tom and Mewtwo went over to the other rectangle.

"Now set your blocks. You have 2 minutes." Elin said. She and Kaze proceeded to distribute their blocks in a fashion that suited them.

Tom turned to Mewtwo. "We have at least two simple tactics. Wither we distribute them all over the place so they can only pluck them off one or two at a time, or we can clump 'em together so they support each other."

Mewtwo looked around at the rectangle. He held his paws before him, facing each other, making slight back-and-forth movements.

"Yeah, away from the sides, that's obvious." Tom answered.

Mewtwo kneeled down and drew a small rectangle on the ground. He drew a bunch of dots in the middle, with some scattered around the centre.

"Yeah, that's what I was thinking," Tom answered.

"One minute!" Elin shouted from the other side.

"Let's get to it." Tom and Mewtwo proceeded to place the blocks as planned.

Mewtwo was found it irritating to have to run around after the blocks instead of using telekinesis as he usually would. Still, he showed none of this. No need to appear irritable at a time like this.

"Time's up!" Elin shouted. Toms and Mewtwo looked over at Elin and Kaze's rectangle. It seems they had had similar thoughts, as they had made small clumps and scattered them around their rectangle. They were in groups of six, in bowling-pin formations, placed on different sides of the rectangle.

"Okay. Let's flip a coin for who goes first," Elin dug out a coin from her pocket. "Call it in the air." She threw it up.

"Heads!" Tom shouted.

"Elin caught the coin, and flipped it onto her wrist."Tails."

"Bleh." Tom exclaimed. He moved to the side, out of the path of the projectiles. Mewtwo followed suit. Tom started pacing up and down the side of the rectangle. Mewtwo stood and watched as Kaze gave Elin a slight bowing gesture, indicating to the bats. Elin gave a slight smile, picked up a bat, holding it with two hands, and walked over to the edge of their rectangle.

**They have included me in this, their social activity. Because they need even teams? No. It is because they see me as one of them.**

Elin tossed the huge block of wood. It struck the central formation of Mewtwo and Tom's arrangement, sending a few blocks tumbling toward the rear of the rectangle. Nothing out yet.

"We're up," Tom headed over to their rectangle. Mewtwo picked up the bat that Elin had tossed and took it to the side as Tom entered with a bat from their pile. Tom turned to Mewtwo. "You wanna go first?"

Mewtwo showed him an open palm, then indicated to the other side of the playing court.

"Suit yourself." Tom turned to look at the other side. He did a bit of calculating, then pulled back, swung around, and tossed the bat with both hands, sending it smashing into one of the packs in the other play field. The rearmost blocks in the formation went flying, one of which went rolling off to the side, ending up at Elin's feet.

"Murder attempt! Minus one point!" Elin shouted and everyone laughed. Even Mewtwo was amused, though he did not laugh audibly.

Elin picked up the block and tossed to the side, where they would be collected.

It was Kaze's turn. He picked up a bat, holding it with one hand, leaning against his shoulder. He walked to the middle of their play area.

**Do they accept me as an equal? And if so, when did they begin to? And why?**

Kaze reared back a bit, then swung forward, tossing the bat forward. It struck the central cluster of Tom and Mewtwo's arrangement, scattering half of it, sending three blocks out of the field.

**It is irrelevant. What is important is that they do. They accept me as one of them. No more questions. It is time to live life as it is.**

Tom cursed at Kaze's success. He Looked at Mewtwo. "Give 'em a..." He stopped short.

Mewtwo was smiling. It was slight, barely noticeable, but it was a smile.

"What are you smiling about? We're losing!" Tom turned and gathered the out-ed blocks.

Mewtwo picked up a bat, holding it with one hand, letting it hand by his side. He studied the placing of the opposition's blocks, and decided upon his tactic. Holding the bat in his right hand, he turned left, then tossed the bat with a backhand motion. It struck a six-pack and sent all the blocks flying. Most stayed within the boundaries, but two rolled out.

"Three-three even," Elin announced.

"Yeah!" Tom grabbed Mewtwo's hand, giving it a good squeeze. Mewtwo squeezed back, surprising Tom with his power. Tom squeezed harder, turning his hand inward at the same time. Mewtwo squeezed harder, also opposing Tom's turning force. The two locked in a game of power.

"Heads up!" Elin feigned a tossing motion with the bat she was holding. Both Tom and Mewtwo let go, heading over to the side of the court.

Tom turned to Mewtwo as Elin tossed, knocking out several blocks. "This isn't over," he said with a smirk.

Mewtwo smirked back.

* * *

Chapter 6. Enjoy? No? Lemme know! Please review. Someone. Anyone. More to come. 


End file.
